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Oil-Rich Venezuela Plunges Into Gasoline Crisis as PDVSA Production Plummets

September 29, 2017

Oil-Rich Venezuela Plunges Into Gasoline Crisis as PDVSA Production Plummets

September, 28 2017 (Panampost)

Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA is to blame for the country’s gasoline shortage, as it is only producing 15 percent of the national demand for fuel, according to the President of the Venezuelan Federation of Petroleum Workers, Iván Freites. He said two of the country’s major refineries, Amuay and Cardón, aren’t coming even close to producing the amount of fuel that Venezuela needs on a daily basis.

“These government miscreants realized that it would be easier to import than produce,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday, September 27.

Freites said the drop in oil production and a decrease in imports of the additives needed to make gasoline has left Venezuela’s four refineries producing around 15 percent of the fuel that the country currently needs. Right now, there is only one day’s worth of gasoline and oil in Venezuela to cover the demand for two days, Freites explained during the press conference.

Workers and technicians who see the problem happening up close have denounced President Nicolás Maduro and his regime, which has opted to purchase foreign gasoline amid financial problems that have left PDVSA unable to complete transactions with various trading partners.

Ships off of Curaçao, Portugal and several other destinations have reportedly been waiting for months to unload their fuel and receive payment. Meanwhile, lines in Venezuela stretch down the road from service stations in many big cities, as people wait hours to fill up their vehicles.